Other books by Mark Oldfield

MADRID, 1982. Comandante Leopoldo Guzman has decided it is time to disappear. Franco is dead and there's no place in the new order for the former head of the tyrant's secret police. But first, Guzman needs money. Luckily, blackmail has always come easily to him - after all, he knows where the bodies are. And so he should. He buried them. MADRID, 2010. Fifteen tangled corpses in a disused mine, three bound skeletons in a sealed cellar - a trail of dead that has led forensic investigator Ana Maria Galindez to one Comandante Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman himself disappeared decades ago but she fears his toxic legacy lives on. Her investigation has revealed a dark conspiracy born amid the corruption of Franco's dictatorship, a conspiracy that after decades in the shadows is finally ready to bloom.

MADRID, 1982. Comandante Leopoldo Guzman has decided it is time to disappear. Franco is dead and there's no place in the new order for the former head of the tyrant's secret police. But first, Guzman needs money. Luckily, blackmail has always come easily to him - after all, he knows where the bodies are. And so he should. He buried them. MADRID, 2010. Fifteen tangled corpses in a disused mine, three bound skeletons in a sealed cellar - a trail of dead that has led forensic investigator Ana Maria Galindez to one Comandante Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman himself disappeared decades ago but she fears his toxic legacy lives on. Her investigation has revealed a dark conspiracy born amid the corruption of Franco's dictatorship, a conspiracy that after decades in the shadows is finally ready to bloom.

MADRID, 1982. Comandante Leopoldo Guzman has decided it is time to disappear. Franco is dead and there's no place in the new order for the former head of the tyrant's secret police. But first, Guzman needs money. Luckily, blackmail has always come easily to him - after all, he knows where the bodies are. And so he should. He buried them. MADRID, 2010. Fifteen tangled corpses in a disused mine, three bound skeletons in a sealed cellar - a trail of dead that has led forensic investigator Ana Maria Galindez to one Comandante Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman himself disappeared decades ago but she fears his toxic legacy lives on. Her investigation has revealed a dark conspiracy born amid the corruption of Franco's dictatorship, a conspiracy that after decades in the shadows is finally ready to bloom.

MADRID, 1982. Comandante Leopoldo Guzman has decided it is time to disappear. Franco is dead and there's no place in the new order for the former head of the tyrant's secret police. But first, Guzman needs money. Luckily, blackmail has always come easily to him - after all, he knows where the bodies are. And so he should. He buried them. MADRID, 2010. Fifteen tangled corpses in a disused mine, three bound skeletons in a sealed cellar - a trail of dead that has led forensic investigator Ana Maria Galindez to one Comandante Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman himself disappeared decades ago but she fears his toxic legacy lives on. Her investigation has revealed a dark conspiracy born amid the corruption of Franco's dictatorship, a conspiracy that after decades in the shadows is finally ready to bloom.

San Sebastian, 1954: Comandante Guzman, Franco's one-time favourite secret policeman is out of favour and exiled to the Basque country. Guzman was last here during the war, heading a platoon of bloodthirsty irregulars. He'd rather forget that. But, up in the hills, he'll find he hasn't been forgotten at all. Madrid, 2010: Forensic Investigator Ana Maria Galindez has been sent to the Basque country, where three skeletons have been found in a sealed cellar. In the debris surrounding them she finds a scimitar, stamped with a name: Capitan Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman's name is the key to unlocking Spain's darkest secrets. But, as Galindez will discover, Guzman's name is also a death sentence.

San Sebastian, 1954: Comandante Guzman, Franco's one-time favourite secret policeman is out of favour and exiled to the Basque country. Guzman was last here during the war, heading a platoon of bloodthirsty irregulars. He'd rather forget that. But, up in the hills, he'll find he hasn't been forgotten at all. Madrid, 2010: Forensic Investigator Ana Maria Galindez has been sent to the Basque country, where three skeletons have been found in a sealed cellar. In the debris surrounding them she finds a scimitar, stamped with a name: Capitan Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman's name is the key to unlocking Spain's darkest secrets. But, as Galindez will discover, Guzman's name is also a death sentence.

San Sebastian, 1954: Comandante Guzman, Franco's one-time favourite secret policeman is out of favour and exiled to the Basque country. Guzman was last here during the war, heading a platoon of bloodthirsty irregulars. He'd rather forget that. But, up in the hills, he'll find he hasn't been forgotten at all. Madrid, 2010: Forensic Investigator Ana Maria Galindez has been sent to the Basque country, where three skeletons have been found in a sealed cellar. In the debris surrounding them she finds a scimitar, stamped with a name: Capitan Leopoldo Guzman. Guzman's name is the key to unlocking Spain's darkest secrets. But, as Galindez will discover, Guzman's name is also a death sentence.

They didn't find the bodies until 2010, 57 years after they were hastily buried in a disused mineshaft. Fourteen had died from a single bullet to the back of the skull. The fifteenth was so viciously garroted that its head was almost severed from its body. For Ana Maria Galindez, the forensic investigator, it was her first encounter with the work of Comandante Guzman. But not her last. The Sentinel is the first in an ambitious and enthralling trilogy of novels that explores the Spanish Civil War's savage legacy. Centre stage is the figure of Leopoldo Guzman, head of the Brigada Especial - Franco's secret police. Guzman is one of the more remarkable creations of modern fiction. A monster and an enigma who nevertheless engages the sympathy of the reader. He is also a man who vanishes from history in the winter of 1953... Until Galindez unearths his tracks.

They didn't find the bodies until 2010, 57 years after they were hastily buried in a disused mineshaft. Fourteen had died from a single bullet to the back of the skull. The fifteenth was so viciously garroted that its head was almost severed from its body. For Ana Maria Galindez, the forensic investigator, it was her first encounter with the work of Comandante Guzman. But not her last. The Sentinel is the first in an ambitious and enthralling trilogy of novels that explores the Spanish Civil War's savage legacy. Centre stage is the figure of Leopoldo Guzman, head of the Brigada Especial - Franco's secret police. Guzman is one of the more remarkable creations of modern fiction. A monster and an enigma who nevertheless engages the sympathy of the reader. He is also a man who vanishes from history in the winter of 1953... Until Galindez unearths his tracks.